Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches

1308 Words3 Pages

Mini-Project: Themes and the Write-Up A qualitative write-up is characterized by thick, detailed descriptions. The report aims to tell a story and report findings, sharing “what the researcher has learned and how s/he learned it” (Patton, 2002, p. 502). However, concerns about quality remain as omissions will be made, analytic structures are not all encompassing, and philosophical points may induce chaos. Researchers are therefore challenged to ensure quality, addressing audience and format requirements, as well as communicating research findings strategically and reflexively (Creswell, 2013; Patton, 2002). The following assignment will proceed to analyze the interview data collected for the mini project concerning admiration. To do so, the researcher will gather the data collected, assess it for trends, and present findings and conclusions drawn from them. Furthermore, the paper will attempt to discern larger themes emerging from the data. It will briefly describe the themes and present finding. Themes Before proceeding to analyze the data gathered and discerning potential themes from participants’ responses, it should be noted that the three participants in this mini project are all male. Even though it is beyond the scope of this project, this raises the question of bias. To be more specific, the existence of gender differences in various areas has been documented repeatedly in research. Generally, the studies do not imply that one gender is better or worse than the other, but simply that the two sexes tend to have different perceptions, behaviors, preferences, and views concerning various matters – including admiration. Bearing this in mind, the mini project may present a uniquely “male” view of admiration due to the selecti... ... middle of paper ... ...bject of admiration. Would this be a proper research study, it would be interesting to explore if men generally tended to favor others of their gender or if this was simply coincidence. Furthermore, the question arises if research would discover similar patterns in responses provided by female participants. In other words, do men tend to generally admire other men – and if so, what may underlying reasons and motivations be? And, are women similarly gender specific in their selection of individuals they admire? References: Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Janesick, V.J. (2011). “Stretching” exercises for qualitative researchers. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Open Document